To create your free account, please enter your email address and password below. Please ensure your email is correct as you will recieve a validation email before you can login.
To log in to your account, please enter your email address and password below:
To reset your password, please enter your email address below and we will send you a link to reset it.
Built upon BioWare’s Aurora engine, TVG takes a look at an intriguing new RPG...
Occasionally a PC games makes you sit up and take notice and The Witcher is a RPG game combining dynamic action with a deep and intriguing storyline. The game uses the modified BioWare Aurora Engine (and was featured across their stand at E3), along with a number of clever and inventive ideas. Derek dela Fuente spoke with Michal Kicinski â?“ Studio Director and Michal Madej â?“ Senior Designer working on the game.
TVG: Please can you tell the readers a little about the team behind the game, CD Projekt, and the vision for the game?
(Michal) CD Projekt is a company founded over 10 years ago that publishes computer games in Eastern Europe. In Poland we are the market leader and gamers hold us in high regard, particularly for the great quality of our Polish language versions of published games. CD Projekt has published almost every RPG on the Polish market since the first Baldur's Gate.
CD Projekt RED - the studio that's developing the Witcher - is a relatively new subordinate company whose goal is to develop high-quality RPGs. We've always dreamt of creating games and the time has come when we decided that we're ready to take up that challenge.
Most of our team has experience gathered while working on developing other Polish games, though for the most part they weren't large productions with worldwide popularity. Development of suitably advanced games in Poland is only beginning - we hope to contribute towards this trend!
TVG: Readers from the UK and many other European countries might not be familiar with Polish Fantasy author, Andrzej Sapkowski, who is working with the team. Can you explain the reasons for his popularity and the part he played in the making of the game?
Sapkowski's popularity in Poland is an absolute phenomenon - his works are read by basically everyone, including people who do not normally read fantasy. It's hard to name a single defining reason for this; for sure, the main character of the Witcher, Geralt, is very important in this regard - a character that is very interesting, extraordinary and original. Geralt was supposed to be a cold, soulless mutant created for the sole purpose of slaying monsters, but - due to an error in experiments - he still has human-like emotions and feelings. Another significant factor has to be the innovative, mature and post-modern world in which the novels are set. This world does not have the standard good vs. evil divisions, but thrives on real issues, often referring to modern world problems such as racism or even ecology. Lastly, there's probably the most essential characteristic of Sapokowski's writing - his lightness of style and often strong language that is rich beyond compare. (Madej)
TVG: What will in your opinion distinguish the world you're creating?
The Witcher's world's strongest points are its originality and authenticity - it was created by Andrzej Sapkowski in his writing and we are doing everything we can to best render its character in our game. Of course, as any fantasy world, this one is also a figment of imagination, full of magic, incredible creatures and enchanting places; very different, however, are the 'persons' (including elves, dwarves, and even vampires) that people this world. They can truly be called 'flesh and blood' characters, for they do not serve some arcane notions of Good or Evil and are not standard paper dolls with no feelings - they have real human shortcomings, weaknesses and lusts. This is a world in which a monster-hunter can befriend an ancient vampire, and a teenage murdering wench save the whole continent. (Madej)
The game will, as we're told, be a heavily action-based RPG. Will the player be able to control the action in real time? Can you briefly tell us about some of the moves, attack options and the workings of the fighting system?
Fighting in The Witcher combines a number of separate issues that all contribute to the game's playability. It is very important, for example, to prepare yourself for the upcoming fight with a monster - get to know its strengths and weaknesses and use this knowledge to prepare a tactic suitable to this opponent. How will this work in practical terms?
During the game, our hero will learn Forms - the basic elements of Witcher's art of fighting, each of them with specific purposes and effects (both positive and negative). Those Forms can then be combined into whole Sequences of attacks that compound the effects of particular Forms. The player has to choose such a Sequence that will allow him to utilize his opponent's weaknesses and at the same time make it impossible for the foe to utilize his strengths.
Preparing a good Sequence is one thing, employing it in practice is something completely different. While attacks are triggered in a simple point&click manner, the problem lies not in making a given cut or slash, but in doing it perfectly. Only ideal timing of consecutive attacks will result in the occurrence of the desired effect - that's where the player's own manual dexterity comes into play. (Madej)
TVG: We are also informed that you intend the action/battling to be ultra realistic and that you have brought in specialists in a number of areas to ensure this. Can you expand on some of the specialists you are using and the kind or period research you are doing?
We're generally concerned with the game presenting the late Middle Ages/early Renaissance realities in areas as varied as architecture, fashion and people's living conditions. Also the Witcher's fighting system was created on the basis of existing records of longsword fencing from that period. During our works on the whole fighting system concept, various attacks and final motion-capturing of particular sequences, we were greatly helped by Warsaw's Weapon Academy in general and the swordsmaster Marcin Żmudzki in particular. Thanks to his involvement our game boasts one of the most spectacular and at the same time most authentic sword fighting systems in the whole world of computer gaming. (Michal)
TVG: Who will be the hero of the game, and what are some of the tasks and challenges he'll have to face?
The hero of our game is the Witcher Geralt - a monster-slayer of legendary fame and abilities, though perhaps not as good a reputation. Some parts of the world see him as a hero, others as a butcher and murderer, but everyone believes him to be dead; rumour has it that he was killed during the Rivia uprising. What is more, he himself remembers nothing and knows not what caused his 'resurrection'... Before the player uncovers this mystery, he'll have to learn many abilities anew, save some friends, reclaim the Witchers' secrets and slay numerous monsters... For the right price, of course. (Madej)
TVG: Could you acquaint us with the background story to the game?
The game includes three main storylines that mingle during play and finally come together in the ending, when every mystery is explained and seemingly unconnected events combine to create a logical whole.
First of those story threads is the already mentioned mystery clouding the game's hero's identity, or lack of it, more precisely. Everyone knows who Geralt is - except the hero himself, who does not remember anything! A second thread is concerned with reclaiming the Witchers' caste's secrets that were stolen from their mountain fortress of Kaer Morhen. The third, political thread, is developed with the game's progress and describes the (Madej) conflict between the Nordling lords and the ever-more-powerful Order of the Flaming Rose.
TVG: What are some of the settings within the game?
The graphics and level of realism in the game world's portrayal can also be counted as the game's strengths. The places that the player will visit will surely astound him with their grand scale, picturesque qualities, overall feeling and attention paid to details. Take Vyzime for example - a city containing two separate parts, an old district of poor people, outlaws and plague with crude shacks ready to come apart any moment, and a new, representative capital built of stone with a beautiful palace of the king. The parts are connected by a grand bridge hanging over a long dike with a beautiful view of the Vyzime Lake and its numerous fishing vessels. The city holds many secrets - few remember that it was originally build over the ruins of an ancient elven metropolis... Those that braved the canals running under the city tell stories about strange and fantastic things that can be encountered there. As well as strange and fantastic monsters that live there... (Madej)
TVG: How detailed will the RPG aspects of the game be? What's the progression and creation of the game's hero going to look like in terms of skills, weapons and set-up?
In order to fully render the unique character of our hero, we had to develop our own RPG system, complete with character descriptions, development and fighting mechanisms. The hero is graded by three main attributes (Strength, Agility and Stamina) and two additional skills of Fighting and Magic. The main strength of the system, however, lies in the complex system of special abilities including well over twenty Witcherâ??s gestures and secret attacks (some employing magic). Character development is similar to most cRPGs - you gather experience points, get promoted to next levels and on each of them can 'spend' a number of development points on adding to your attributes or buying abilities.
As far as the hero's weaponry is concerned - Witchers are swords-masters and as such use two exquisite blades, one forged out of meteorite, one out of silver. Although the weapons that the player has at his disposal at the beginning of the game have seen better times, they are still great blades that only need to be brought back to former glory. (Madej)
TVG: How focused are you on the technology? You are using Biowareâ??s Aurora Engine. Tell us what has impressed you in it.
In the beginning, we wanted - as most companies do - to develop our own technology, but we realized in time what a complicated and drawn-out process this required. We also understood that what is most important is the content and not the technology - a rich and interesting world, well-developed characters, immersing storyline, that's what makes an RPG valuable. Technology is only a tool that helps us obtain this goal and that's why we decided to buy a license for Aurora and not to further develop our own engine. Aurora includes a number of tools that make RPG development a lot easier - after all, BioWare has huge experience in the field - and even though other engines might offer better visuals, we decided quickly in Aurora's favour. Our programmers then concentrated on best suiting Aurora for the Witcher's purposes, with one of the first changes being a basically complete revamping of the graphics display module. The graphics are no longer built from tiles, but created directly in 3DMax, which makes it much more detailed and varied. The game has also full DirectX 9 support and the graphics look very good - which you can best judge yourself by looking at our various screenshots and game movies. (Michal)
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
Weâ??ll have more on The Witcher soon.
If you wish to link to this article, here's a permalink to this page:
TVG Store - Finding you the cheapest price for:
The Witcher
-
Buy The Witcher (PC DVD)
Best price: £6.97 from Tesco with FREE delivery
Gameseek £21.96 Usually Despatched Within 2-3 Days Buy From Here Play.com £36.99 In Stock - Estimated Delivery 6 - 7 days. Buy From Here
Game Information
Available On:
PC
| Release Date: | Players: |
|---|---|
| Out Now | 1 |
| Publisher: | Genre: |
| Atari | RPG |
| Developer: | PEGi Rating: |
| CDProjekt | 18 |
Reviews & Ratings
Movies
4984 views
3225 views
4104 views
RSS Feed
Stay up-to-date with all the latest information on The Witcher by subscribing to this RSS Feed.
Click here to Subscribe to this RSS FeedAdvertisment
Featured Articles
Arcade Games Are Dead, And We Have Killed Them - Feature
How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Hands-on Preview
Fire-wreathed fae blades, lightning-imbued stormscythe chakrams - this is one serious RPG...
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review
Andy Alderson travels deep into the lands of Tamriel to bring you this learned review...
Video Games Discussions
question for you, I started a game, then decided to start a new one part way through to try the dif...
By Anon (last comment 1 day ago)
@#18 lol your just a typical sony fanboy disgusted to know the simple truth, go watch blunty3000 rev...
By Anon (last comment 2 days ago)
I just read this site is being killed off !! OMG - I always read here quite a bit... ...for anyone...
By Anon (last comment 22 days ago)
I would not recommend Blue Toad Murder Files for PS3. The game is based on riddles, except the devel...
By Anon (last comment 26 days ago)
i hope fallout 4 is running off a stable skyrim engine and follows the story from fallout 3 right af...
By Anon (last comment 27 days ago)
I used KDX7-3XM4-FR9D 8PDA-6x3m kaique333 thanks
By Anon (last comment 27 days ago)
Comment
Sign Up and Post with a Profile
Join TVG for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member. You can still post anonymously.
Log in using Facebook
Respect Other Members
Please respect other users, post wisely and avoid flaming... Terms & Conditions
Added:Fri 23rd May 2008 12:22, Post No: 8
I really enjoyed this game, rely worth the money I paid for it.
Added:Fri 16th May 2008 01:02, Post No: 7
I am still very new to the game...but I have to say as far as RPG's go, this is by far the best I've played. I have taken to writing down some of the decisions you make so I can go back through a second time down a different path.
Added:Thu 27th Dec 2007 20:08, Post No: 6
Very awesome rpg. Probably best I've played, and possibly more fun than some of my favourite Zelda games. I'm still working through it. If you have the hardware for it, and run it full settings at 1080p with 4xAA its a very pretty game as well. Decisions actually matter in this game, and theres always something to do; all the quests are related to the overall story. Character development is near perfect, with unique skills, instead of more strength, speed, health, etc. Oblivion crap. Potions are not like the Oblivion crap either (heal, restore magic). Instead the are all unique effects, with interesting descriptions (Wolverine - increases damage when the moon is high, or Black Blood - turns your blood to a poison so monsters that bite you become poisoned badly, etc).
Added:Mon 19th Nov 2007 05:46, Post No: 5
Amazingly real cause vs effect. You cannot walk the straight and narrow in this game with out seeing that it becomes the fanatical and short sighted. I loved agonizing over every decision simply because I knew deep down people would die as a result of it. My best moment was at that the Knighting by the Lady of the Lake sorry if thats a small spoiler.
Added:Thu 15th Nov 2007 19:43, Post No: 4
Good game..i played it full detail in an core2duo 6600 with ATX1900XTX 256MB and 4MB RAM
Added:Fri 09th Nov 2007 11:09, Post No: 3
Great game despite some negative critics. No matter what this game has truly set a new standard in realistic storyline, mature decisions ect. Really cool
Added:Sat 03rd Nov 2007 04:24, Post No: 2
"Admittedly, the prolificacy of fantastical cussing ("Your mother blows dwarves") looses its edge after awhile and lends a comedy undertow that probably wasn't intended, but overall The Witcher feels suitably dark with a gritty, mature story to tell." But of course it was intended. You should really read the books, they're worth it and you'd have a better feel for the game as well. This world is not just gritty. It can be really funny sometimes...
Added:Thu 01st Nov 2007 16:49, Post No: 1
Thanks to the devolpers that made a game that will run on my older computer. My processor is under the minimum requirement, but the graphics card is decent. The game runs low framerate, but still looks amazing even with 1024x786 no AA. Textures vary and keep it interesting. Combat is reminiscent of Jade empire and nothing new. Character development is pretty good. I enjoy the openness of it, it reminds me of a structured Oblivion (in a good way) 88% from me.